Using Motivation to Improve Performance
Instructor Name: Dr. Tony Muscia
February 16, 2016

Understanding what motivate employees can shed light on what makes employees work harder and who is committed to what. Motivation is defined as something inside people that drives them to action. Motivation varies depending on individual’s needs, values, goals, expectations and intentions. The sharing of knowledge is essential to the success of the organization. Employees that are not motivated are likely disengaged, produce low a quality of work, and have absenteeism. However when employees are motivated, they are creative, productive, and produce quality work. Leaders must learn their staff wants and needs and used different methods to motivate them. Many leaders implement contest, pay incentives, and performance appraisals in hopes to keep staff motivated. Motivation can be characterized into two categories: intrinsic motivation, which comes from the desire to work for the individual to work on something because it’s interesting, exciting, satisfying, and challenging and extrinsic motivation, which comes from the desire to obtain some outcomes that are separate from the work itself. Employees can be motivated by one or both factors. Intrinsic motivation occurs when employees perform for personal satisfaction. Employees that are motivated intrinsically enjoy their jobs and view it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Extrinsic motivation occurs when employees are motivated to perform based on behaviors to earn an award. Extrinsic rewards usually financial are the tangible rewards given to employees by managers, such as pay raises, bonuses, and benefits. They are called “extrinsic” because they are external to the work itself and other people control their size and whether or not they are granted. (Thomas) External awards may be used to motivate staff to acquire new skills or knowledge. While extrinsic rewards are significant, employees want to feel that they are adding value and the work they are doing is meaningful. Employee Involvement is an initiative used to improve the communication with employees, promote commitment, and enhance employees contributions to the organization. Promoting employee involvement uses employee’s input to commit to the organization's success and decision making. Employee involvement boosts morale and increase work performance. The level of employee involvement can and will be influenced by the organization’s environment. The main components of employee involvement include decision-making, communication, and teamwork. The organization must create a culture of trust and open communication to keep staff involved and engaged. To introducing staff to employee involvement, the organization must establish clear expectations, goals, and objectives. Positive employee involvement can be a vehicle to attract and retain talented staff. There are two forms of employee involvement; participative management and representative participation. Participative management emphasizes staff involvement in decision making; employees are involved in goal setting, making suggestions, improving operations, and problem-solving. When employees are in involved in the decision making of the organizations, this promotes a sense of pride and accomplishment, and that creates a positive work environment and encourage participation. Employees that are involved have the ability to communicate among the levels of the organization and staff will be more receptive to change. Participative management and the employee’s perception of the strategic planning process affects job satisfaction. Participative management allows subordinates to participate in decisions that directly or indirectly affect them in the organization. Managers and supervisors should encourage participation because it tends to increase the cohesiveness within the team, gives staff and overall point of view of the organization, conflict and hostility are decreased, and the tolerance and patient toward other team member are increased. Leaders want a work environment that allows employees to express themselves and create freely. There are several actions participative management can take to promote employee involvement. Employee involvement programs such as share ownerships, suggestion boxes, safety committees, and idea campaigns encourage ownership and job satisfaction. Employees will work harder to implement the strategies they help established. As a result, work quality improves and fewer details does unnoticed. Employees own their behaviors and actions. The safety committees allow employees to develop and commit to the safety of the organizations. The safety committees can allow staff to conduct general site inspections, train new and current staff members, report hazards and provide feedback on improvements. When the organization allows employees to participate in the decision making regarding the health and safety of themselves and others; they are more likely to support and utilize the programs available. The idea campaign should be short in duration mainly thirty days. The campaign will focus on small improvements and provide immediate employee recognition. Each staff member can submit an idea or suggestion, and the best idea that is approved and implemented would receive a monetary award and letter of appreciation from CEO. The key to keeping all employees involved in the idea campaign is recognizing staff that submitted an idea whether their idea was approved or not. Representative participation is a system in which workers participate in organizational decision making through a small group of representative employees. These small groups are known as counsels or boards. The Proper motivation of employees is directly related to productivity and with maintenance factors. Workers who are happy with their jobs, are challenged, and have the opportunity to fulfill goals will exhibit less destructive behavior on the job. They will be absent less frequently, they will be less inclined to change jobs, and, most importantly, they will produce at a higher level.

REFERENCES

Effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on employee knowledge sharing intentions. Hsiu-Fen Lin. Department of Shipping and Transportation Management, National Taiwan Ocean University, Taiwan, R.O.C.

http://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/the-four-intrinsic-rewards-that-drive-employee-engagement/ The Four Intrinsic Rewards that Drive Employee Engagement by: Kenneth Thomas Issues: November / December 2009 Organizational Leadership and Participative Management. Chris Argyris. The Journal of Business Vol. 28, No. 1 (Jan., 1955), pp. 1-7